Why Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins is right to hold out
DeAndre Hopkins is one of the top offensive players in the NFL.
Despite having four different starting quarterbacks last year, Nuke pulled down 111 catches for 1,521 yards and 11 touchdowns, the third-best statistical season for a receiver in the NFL in 2015.
But Hopkins is delaying his follow-up campaign. Saturday, he either left Texans training camp to begin his holdout for a better contract or never reported at all.
No matter how Hopkins opted to hold out, the Texans would be wise to give him a new contract as soon as possible — the receiver is the most critical player to the Houston's legitimate title hopes this season.
It should have never gotten to this point. When the Texans handed Brock Osweiler a $72 million deal with $37 million guaranteed, they should have handed Hopkins a new deal as well.
Not having your star wide receiver around for your highly paid, generally unproven quarterback is usually a poor formula.
Hopkins is still on his rookie contract. He has two years left on it, in fact, and it will pay him $2.4 million in the upcoming season and $7.9 million in 2017. After that, he's probably going to be hit with a franchise tag for a year or two.
At age 24, Hopkins has plenty of high-production seasons left in him, but he’s not keen to wait until perhaps age 28 to be paid for his elite production.
He won’t be able to “make up the difference” in later years — he’ll be producing at a high level then too. You can't make up four years of top-level value in the NFL.
Looking around the league, star wide receivers of Hopkins' class — Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones — landed deals that are highly similar to Osweiler’s new Texans contract: around $70 million total with more than $30 million guaranteed.
The Texans are reportedly uninterested in renegotiating with Hopkins because he has two years left on his deal and they only renegotiate rookie deals with one year remaining — around the time the team can pick up the fifth-year option — but they have made an exception.
J.J. Watt’s contract was renegotiated with two years remaining on his rookie deal, and while Watt might be a generational defensive talent worthy of such exceptions, Hopkins isn’t exactly a practice squad player.
Hopkins' value to the Texans is immense this season. He's more important than Osweiler or Watt to the Texans' legitimate title hopes. Last year, he lifted the Texans to a 9-7 record despite having Brian Hoyer (9 games), Ryan Mallett (4 games), T.J. Yates (2 games) and Brandon Weeden (1 game) as his starting quarterbacks. Nine wins from that lot.
And while yes, Watt is the most dominant defensive lineman in the league, the Texans' defense would still be really good without him.
The Texans' offense was pretty good last season and will be even better this year. Can you make either claim if Hopkins isn't on the field?
Hopkins is right to push for a new deal, even though it’s out of the normal timeframe. This is not a normal situation.
Osweiler has 11 career touchdown passes — he might have a big contract, but he still has a lot to prove at the NFL level. And if the new quarterback wants to live up to his big deal, he’s going to want to have an elite receiver like Hopkins to throw to this season.
On the flip side, if the Texans want to make sure their investment in Osweiler looks smart, they need to invest in Hopkins.
They could have avoided this holdout by being proactive. Instead, they’re slowly but surely stunting their offense’s chances this year.
Training camp is the time when the new quarterback and star receiver should be building chemistry, but because the Texans didn't think to take care of their best offensive player when they signed a new quarterback, that opportunity is being wasted every day.
That’s not Hopkins’ fault — his presence at training camp is the only leverage he has, and he’s using it.
The Texans can’t afford Hopkins to miss another day. This isn’t a normal player, and these aren’t normal circumstances — it’s time to break tradition and give Hopkins a new deal.
